Could Your Shoulder Also Be Causing Your Elbow Pain?

As we learned in the previous article about the wrist and elbow pain, going right to the source of pain isn’t always going to be the fix. We have to think outside the box and examine what else could be causing the problem. The elbow joint is sandwiched between the wrist and the shoulder so if one of those two joints aren’t moving correctly the elbow will likely try to compensate and take on a workload it is not meant to handle. If this happens repeatedly over time pain is inevitable. So how could the shoulder actually affect the elbow?

Anatomy of the Shoulder

The anatomy of the shoulder is very complex and has so many muscles that attach to it, to keep this article simple we will only be referring to specific muscles that typically affect shoulder movement the most.

The Muscles Around The Shoulder

We usually think of the main muscles of the shoulder being the deltoids (the muscles that give our shoulders that round boulder look), which they are, but usually aren’t always the culprits when it comes to shoulder issues. It’s the muscles that are near the shoulder that can cause the biggest problem though. Muscles like the pec minor/major (chest muscles) and the biceps muscles attach to the bones that connect the shoulder joint. These muscles are very often overused and create tightness in the shoulder leading to a rounded shoulder look and movement dysfunction.

The Rotator Cuff and Shoulder Stability

The rotator cuff consists of 4 small muscles that are often overlooked and almost always undertrained. These 4 muscles (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis) are responsible for efficient movement of the scapula and stability of the shoulder joint. When these muscles underwork your shoulders will lack stability and look to other muscles to take over the workload, leading to muscle compensations and poor movement patterns.

How Does This Relate To My Elbow?

When the rotator cuff is weak/underworking the shoulder will lack stability. When a large joint like the shoulder lacks stability, the body will need to compensate and create stability somewhere else. The elbow is the lucky one next in line to take on the grunt work. The problem is the elbow is not designed to withstand that kind of work, especially over long periods of time. In combination with the chest/biceps muscles over working and creating poor movement patterns, there is a recipe for elbow pain and potential injury.

How to Restore Shoulder Function and Stability

We will be taking a similar approach as we did in the last article about increasing wrist mobility. We will start with myofascial release and static stretching of the tight muscles which include the pec minor (chest) and the biceps.

Chest Release

Bicep Release

Chest Stretch

Bicep Stretch

Now that we have created more range of motion we can start restoring proper movement back to the shoulders and scapula with mobility drills.

Then finally after we have restored proper movement and mobility we can effectively use strengthening exercises for the rotator cuff and surrounding muscles to increase stability and function of the scapula and shoulder joint.

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Is Your Elbow Pain Actually An Elbow Problem?

Whenever someone has a pain somewhere they typically like to go right to the source of the pain and start trying to fix it. Depending on the situation it could work, but more times than not the pain is just a symptom of a problem somewhere else in the body. So what could possibly be causing pain in my elbow if the elbow isn’t the problem? Let’s explore a few possibilities.

Elbow Anatomy

As you can see the anatomy can be very complex around the elbow, but if you notice many of the muscles that attach to the elbow also attach to the wrist. Therefore the muscles that move the wrist will also have some affect on the elbow as well. So what does that actually mean?

How the Wrist Affects the Elbow

So now that we know many of the muscles that move the wrist also affect the elbow we can break down how these muscles influence the elbow. The wrist has two main functions, flexion and extension. Wrist extension is the position your hand would be in, in a pushup position. Flexion would be the movement your wrist makes when flicking your wrist after a throwing motion. If either of these wrist movements are limited, whether it be from the muscle being tight from overuse or a mobility/stability issue, it can cause havoc at the elbow. The tight muscles will pull on the tendons of the elbow potentially creating an overuse injury like tennis elbow (lateral elbow pain) or golfer/climbers elbow (medial elbow pain).

How To Increase Wrist Flexibility

In order to increase your wrist flexibility you need to decrease the tightness of the muscles that are holding back your range of motion. There are going to be two main groups of muscles you want to aim for. The wrist flexor group and the wrist extensor group. Typically if your pain if felt on the outside of your elbow then you will want to focus on the flexor group. For pain felt on the inside, target your focus on the extensor group of muscles. A healthy dose of both can never hurt though 😉

Wrist Flexibility Protocol

The first plan of attack would be to decrease the tightness in the forearm muscles. Trigger point releasing and stretching will be your most effective tools for decreasing tightness and increasing length of the muscle leading to more flexibility. Start with releases of the forearms for 30 sec – 2 mins followed by stretches for 30 sec – 1 min. After decreasing the tightness we can effectively start implementing mobilization drills for 10-15 reps in each direction. These drills will help gain more range of motion at the wrist joint so you can start using your wrists to their full potential!

*Always consult a doctor first and get a diagnosis of the pain. Only then can you know how to effectively treat the pain. If it’s an overuse injury and not something more serious these protocols could be effective for you.

Wrist Extensors Release

Wrist Flexors Release

Wrist Flexors Stretch

Wrist Extensors Stretch

Wrist Mobilizations.

Your wrist flexibility is only one piece to the elbow pain puzzle, how your shoulder moves is a huge factor as well! Stay tuned for how your shoulder could be affecting your elbow and causing pain.

View Larger MapTraining Aspects’ personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals! Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

How Magnesium Helps:

Enzymes are protein molecules that stimulate every chemical reaction in the body. All the enzymes that metabolize vitamin D require magnesium.

Magnesium has a possible role in vitamin D’s effect on the immune system.

Magnesium Rich Foods:

Avocados, seeds, almonds, cashews, black beans, bananas, spinach, oats, and dark chocolate. These foods should always be consumed in moderation, well mostly the dark chocolate 😉 (keep it to 1 ounce to get the magnesium benefits)

Add in some of these magnesium dense foods in your meals or as snacks and improve your nutrient absorption!

View Larger MapTraining Aspects’ personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals! Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

Resisted High Speed Training is a great way to challenge the whole body, with high speed movements that allow for full power output. It allows for optimal body and mechanic control without impairing body movements. Here are 5 great drills you can implement into your training program and start seeing great results. (Video of each exercise at the bottom)

1. Resistance Band Sprint:

This exercise is great for developing overall power through the whole body, as well as, allow for isolated mechanics tweaking. The band is a great way to focus on your stride length. It forces you to sprint just as hard but not allowing you to generate the same amount of speed. Have someone tape your attempt (preferably a speed coach and in slow motion) and get a separate partner to hold the band. After each attempt, assess the encompassing technique. Whenever you complete resistance sprints, make sure to knock out some regular sprints, to reinforce the movement and increase your confidence to apply it to the game.

2. Resistance Band Back Pedal:

For most positions, back pedaling is huge! This exercise allows for you to create power while back pedaling and also working on your balance and core control. Follow these up with un-resisted back pedals to apply everything in real time.

3. Resistance Band Broad Jump:

The goal here is to develop a more powerful jump and create a controlled landing. It’s so important to focus on full extension through the hips. You will want to look like superman with your body completely extended out straight as you leave the ground. Landing must be light and controlled. Follow these up with some un-resisted broad jumps to apply your new technique and improve overall power.

4. Resistance Band Multi-Directional Sprint and Touch:

The ability to transition and accelerate, is essential! Add a cone touch in the mix to force multi level adjustments during the sprint. A great situational drill, make sure not to round as you touch the cone.

5. Resistance Band Multi- Directional Broad Jump

This one is more advanced than the regular broad jump because now your body is forced to react in different directions. Once you come back from jumping to the left now you need to adjust and create power going to the right. This requires a great amount of core and body control.

View Larger MapTraining Aspects’ personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals! Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

http://trainingaspects.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ryan-broad-jump.png12422208Training Aspectshttp://trainingaspects.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/TA-Logo-White-Background-larger-min-300x120.pngTraining Aspects2018-01-16 17:19:032018-01-17 13:12:275 Great Resistance Band Exercises for Elite Football Performance

5 Thoughts on Dumbbells vs. Kettlebells

Dumbbells: The weight is evenly distributed on both sides. Making the feeling of the dumbbell a little more comfortable for most exercises.

Kettlebells: The weight is balanced down the middle. Since the weight is all in one spot it can certain make exercises more difficult and recruit different muscles.

2. Exercise Selection:

Dumbbells: Great for strength and resistance training exercises. Evenly distributed weights allow for more weight to be lifted.

Kettlebells: Great for body movement and power exercises. A balanced weight allows for you to move with the bell and create more power.

3. Muscle Activation:

Dumbbells: Typically used to isolate and activate a select few muscles at a time. Ex: The DB bench press – Muscles activated are primarily the chest, shoulders and triceps.

Kettlebells: Can be used in many different full body movements activating the whole body at once. Ex: Kettlebell snatch – Muscles activated – glutes, hamstrings, core/abs, shoulders, triceps just to name a few. Almost every muscle in the body gets activated and you develop full body neuromuscular coordination.

4. Fat Burning Capabilities:

Dumbbells: Strength and resistance training will result in increased lean muscle mass which will increase your metabolism, leading to improved fat burning capabilities.

Kettlebells: The quick, powerful full body movements increase fat burning by using more muscle groups and increasing heart-rate and cardio output.

5. Goal Set:

Dumbbells: Great for anyone looking to increase lean muscle mass or gain overall strength. Body builders, physique competitors and those looking to increase size will benefit the most from this type of training.

Kettlebells: Great for those looking to increase power, improve body movement and develop full body neuromuscular control and coordination. Athletes, fat loss clients and anyone looking to improve body movement will benefit the most from this type of training.

Now you don’t have to stick to only one or the other. Vary up your training by using both but make sure you’re primarily sticking to what is going to get you to your goal!

View Larger MapTraining Aspects’ personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals! Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

Are Your Landing Mechanics the Missing Link to Top Sports Performance?

So you’ve been working on your speed, power and explosiveness all season but have you actually been getting the most out of it? If you haven’t perfected your landing mechanics and ground contact on every stride, then you’re minimizing your playmaking capability and setting yourself up for potential injury.

What Does Landing Mechanics Mean?

Landing mechanics are what allows your body to set you up for the next move or bring your body to an effective stop. Whether it be a straight forward jump, lateral jump, a cut/juke move, or coming to a complete stop, how you land and the set up dictates the next move.

How Will It Improve Sports Performance?

Landing mechanics are one of the biggest factors that can immediately improve your performance. If you can efficiently absorb the forces your putting into the ground with every step, juke and landing then you can effectively explode out of that move like a loaded spring. This leads to a more efficient and effective juke, and stride. To put it simple you use less energy and make more plays.

How Can It Reduce My Injury Risk?

Landing is crucial to staying healthy and keeping yourself on the field or ice. Over time that landing issue, even if it’s minuscule, will lead to injury. For example, if your knees are collapsing inward every time you land, this creates excessive force on your knee joints. Over time, this may lead to problems such as an ACL, MCL or meniscus tear. If you’re effectively landing with all joints aligned, then you’re more likely to stay healthy and dominate the game.

Training Aspects’ personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals! Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

Is Body Movement Training The Next Big Thing?

What is Body Movement Training?

Body movement training can be summed up to pretty much any type of body movement done efficiently: running, walking, jumping, bounding, rolling, cartwheels. These movements are already found in some fitness programs, but are they being done properly? And are they being worked on and perfected?

Hasn’t Body Movement Always Been a Thing?

It was a thing! Unfortunately, most people don’t move efficiently or often, leading to poor body mechanics and posture. This then leads to pain and potential injury. The vast majority of people are sitting behind desks for 8+ hours a day, followed by a few more hours in the car and on the couch to finish out the day. Our actions create habits and a habit of poor posture and inactivity doesn’t transfer well to healthy movement.

How Can I Make My Body Move More Efficiently?

Stop sitting so much, start there! For every hour you sit, make it a rule to at least get up and move around for 5 minutes. Do get a better idea of your body’s movement needs. Come in for a movement assessment. An assessment can pinpoint the body compensations and muscle imbalances developed over the years. These imbalances can come from various every day habits. You have a Desk job and aren’t very active. You play sports or have played sports and have developed imbalances because of the repetitive sporting movements. You’re an avid gym goer and have poor movement habits that lead to you doing the exercises incorrectly. Whatever it may be a movement assessment can help find the fix.

What is a Movement Assessment?

A movement assessment typically starts with a squat assessment. From this squat assessment every joint and muscle movement can be seen. Compensation patterns and muscle imbalances are determined. From there the most productive workout program can be put together to get your body moving more efficiently and in less pain! Now the true body movement training program begins!

Where Can I Get An Assessment?

More facilities are providing movement assessments than ever before, which is great for the future of body movement training, but not all assessments are created equal. Just make sure you do your homework on the place and find out if they do a movement assessment. If you live in the South Jersey area or want to complete an online movement assessment and suggestions on how to improve, we would be happy to help.

Training Aspects’ personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals! Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

These articles will be a good guide to see if ankle mobility is an issue for you and how to improve it to get the most out of the performance exercises in this article. We are going to break down the top 5 sports performance exercises to start optimizing your new ankle mobility and really amp up your performance level!

Sports Performance Exercise #1: Single Leg Box Jumps

Single leg box jumps are a great way to build single leg stability and power. Single leg allows you to evenly develop stability and power in both legs without the compensations that may happen in a bi-lateral (both legs) box jumps. This will transfer over to sport more efficiently since your typically pushing and striding off of one leg.

Sports Performance Exercise #2: Weighted Deep Squats

Weighted deep squats are a great way to work on your ankle mobility under load or weight. This allows for your ankle to gain stability in the newly mobilized position. Increased mobility in your ankle is great but only if you can stay stable in those new ranges of motion. (Remember only add weight when you can perform the exercise properly without it.)

Sports Performance Exercise #3: Single Leg Lateral Bounds

This exercise takes the single leg box jump a step further and adds a lateral aspect to it. The ability to laterally transfer your weight over, explode through your hips and ankle, all while keeping a stable ankle for landing.

Sports Performance Exercise #4: Depth Jumps

Depth jumps are a challenging exercise but must be done correctly. Depth jumps train your ankle and the rest of your body to absorb the force of the ground and use the elastic energy created by your ankle to propel your body into the air for a powerful jump. This elastic energy can only be created by a mobile but stable ankle.

Sports Performance Exercise #5: Sprints

Your sprint can only be as powerful as your ankle mobility will allow. If your ankle is too stiff you won’t be able to properly absorb the force of each foot strike leading to wasted energy and less power. This will also translate to poor running mechanics and potential injury down the road.

Training Aspects’ personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals! Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

Corrective Ways to Improve Ankle Mobility Part 2

Muscle Activations

What are Activations?

Typically there are many muscles in the body that will get under active or under used from muscle imbalances developed. This is where muscle activations come into play. Muscle activation exercises can increase the activity of that under used muscle.

How it Can Help

After you have already released, stretched and mobilized the affected area, activating the under used muscles can help bring back balance to the muscles and increase movement to the joints involved. Performance specific training can now be increased because muscles that were inactive and not part of the movement process, can now move efficiently and create the necessary power to move pain/wear and tear free.

Integrative Exercises

What is an Integrative Exercise?

An exercise that requires the body as whole to work together and activate all the necessary muscles to perform the movement efficiently.

How it Helps

This is the final piece to the puzzle. Integrative exercises help you develop stability, power and proper movement. Without integrating the movements, in most cases, doesn’t mean the process is complete. By integrating the movement back into daily life, the movement becomes a regular movement.

Training Aspects’ personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals! Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

Corrective Ways to Improve Ankle Mobility Part 1

There are many techniques that may help improve your ankle mobility. Manual muscle release, self myofascial release, stretching, mobilizations, muscle activations and integrations to name a few. Let’s break down techniques and how to implement them to get the most effective results.

Myofascial Muscle Release

What’s a Release?

When we overuse certain muscles they can develop tight spots (trigger points). These trigger points can start to create pain. The goal of myofascial release is to apply pressure to these trigger points until they release.

Types

The two most popular types, manual and self releases. Manual releases involves another person, usually a physical therapist using their hands to release the muscle. Self releases involve a release tool like a foam roller or softball and the person performing the release for themselves.

How It Can Help

By applying the pressure to these trigger points it will start to loosen and allow the muscle to properly lengthen. Once the muscle is properly lengthened you can efficiently move on to the next steps like mobilizations and stretches.

Joint Mobilizations

What’s a Mobilization?

Many of our joints become stiff over time from not moving enough or having poor movement habits. Joint mobilizations increase mobility through isolated body movements that target specific joints. These mobilizations can only be performed optimally following muscle release. The releases will allow for proper length of the muscle leading to increased mobilization.

How It Can Help

Joint mobilizations help improve mobility of the joint, once that is achieved you can start improving movement patterns while exercising. It will also help you re-pattern these important joint movements back into your brain so they become habit. These habits will lead to less pain and injury.

Stretching

The regular outlook on Stretching?

Stretching feels great! However, being too flexible is just as bad as not being flexible. If the body is unable to move a certain way and you continue to push to push it past the limit. You may not realize that your body may have a restriction. Instead of the stretch being effective it’s actually stretching something totally different then planned.

When to Stretch?

Stretching is most beneficial after incorporating the above 2 techniques. Releases and mobilizations allow for the muscles to be properly lengthened. This is when stretching is most beneficial and can actually lengthen the muscle.

How It Can Help

Properly lengthening the muscles can put the joints and muscles into proper position allowing for strengthening exercises to be more beneficial and less likely to injure you!

Check back next week to get the continuation and second part to this article, it will include videos on how to improve.

Training Aspects’ personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals! Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…